Asian Songbirds of the 1970s (Part 2)

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Let's continue with the Asian female singers from the 70s.

Teresa Teng (pinyin: Deng Li Jun) was a very popular and musically influential singer from Taiwan, who came into the limelight in the early 1970s. She is especially well known for folk songs and romantic ballads. Her voice and songs are instantly recognized throughout Asia and in areas with large Asian populations, to the extent that it has been said, "Wherever there are Chinese people, the songs of Teresa Teng can be heard." 

This lady continued to have much success until her untimely death at 42 from an asthma attack in 1995. However her memory lives on, and her albums continue to be immensely popular. My wife has her complete collection of songs on CD, as I'm sure many other fans do.

So turn up the volume and enjoy her crystal clear voice in "Tian Mi Mi", meaning "Sweet Honey" (I think?) ...

Undoubtedly Teresa Teng's classic song is "Yue Liang Dai Piao Wo De Xin", which is literally translated as "The Moon Represents My Heart". Enjoy ...

Next let's turn to our very own Sarawakian songbird who was prominent during the swinging seventies. ELAS mentioned her in his previous comments, and I recall her music as well. She is Rose Iwanaga, and she, together with her band The Avengers, have the distinction of being the first English-language recording music group from East Malaysia. The Avengers comprised James Ong (rhythm), Jimmy Ho (lead), Peter Ho (bass) and Jalek Zula (drums). I believe the group made 3 albums.

L to R: James, Jimmy, Peter, Jalek, Rose

Here's the best-known of Rose Iwanaga's songs ...

I often wondered what happened to Rose and her band. There are a few websites on them, but no one seems to know. Do any of you?

That's it for today. More in Part 3 ...
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"St Joe in the 70s" Puzzle

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I've been trying out a new crossword puzzle generation software, and here's a little crossword to test whether you have been paying attention during your time at St Joe or on this blog ...

Anyway, try your skill at this. And as usual, numerous "no prizes" await the ones who get it all right !
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A 1970s Musical Playlist (Part 2)

A number of you have suggested other songs in response to the first "A 1970s Musical Playlist" posted. So here comes another set of songs that will hopefully transport you mentally back to the 70s ...

We begin with Terry Jacks with his eternal words from "Seasons in the Sun". I like the fact that the videoclip depicts an older Jacks singing and playing the guitar, against the backdrop of a screen showing him in 1973 when the song was first released. Nice to know we're not the only ones getting on in years.

Some of us suspect that this next song was actually sung at one of the concert performances put up by the Form 5 classes of 1976. Perhaps it was done by the Form 5Sc choir, whose photo you saw in a previous post. The performers are Roger Whittaker and Chet Atkins, and the song is "The Last Farewell". Enjoy ...

For many of the martial arts crazy guys of 1976, this has to be a memorable song. One could say at the time it was almost the anthem of Chinese martial arts. I particularly enjoy this video too ...

Undoubtedly one of my all time favourite songs ...

Well, that's it for another edition of a 1970's Musical Playlist. Hope you enjoyed it ...
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Snapshots from the Seventies - A St Joe-St Teresa outing

Another very old photo that was recently brought to my attention. I won't say much about it, except that it is obviously some sort of outing by the same level classes of St Joe and St Teresa. I'm told this was in either 1974 or 1975.

Take a good look.

Maybe YOU are in the picture. Or maybe you can help name the other individuals in the picture ? Or maybe you can update where they are now or what they're doing ?




For a start, let's see who's the first one who can name everyone in the picture. ... ;-)

More Movie Memorabilia : Old Cinemas

I found these really old photos which may bring back pleasant memories of movie haunts for some of us in the 1970s ...

Fig 1: Capitol in the 70s

I remember the days when the same film was screened at both Capitol and Lido (both part of the Shaw Brothers organisation) at roughly the same time, and because the cinema operator only had one copy of the film on (usually) two reels, they would stagger the timing such that one cinema would start showing the film first, while the other started with lots of commercials and trailers.

When the first reel ended in cinema #1, someone (usually on a motorbike so as to avoid traffic jams) would transport the reel to cinema #2. Once the courier was delayed, and we sat in one cinema in mid-film (reel one had just finished but reel two hadn't yet arrived), in pitch darkness, wondering what was happening. Invariably there would be lots of whistles, cat calls, and those with girlfriends would probably have a fumbling, fun time in the dark.

Fig 2: Cathay in the 70s

Regarding Cathay, actually what I remember more is the nearby ice cream shop, just beside the main entrance of the cinema - which sold great durian and sweet corn flavoured ice cream. (it's truly remarkable how one remembers foods tasted decades ago, and yet often forget what one had for lunch the previous day). Anyway, that ice cream shop was originally run by a certain Mr Lo Foot Kee, before he went into politics and even became an assistant Minister for Local Government, Sarawak.

Sadly both cinema establishments are no more. The Capitol building is long gone, with the Tun Jugah shopping mall in its place. I believe the Cathay building is still around, but no more functioning as a cinema.

Happy reminiscing ...

UPDATED - Old Photographs from the 70's

Here's an old photo of St Joe sometime in the 1970's (shamelessly "borrowed" from other ex-Josephians' website :-).




If any of you have other photos of life at St Joe in or around 1976, please scan them and send me a digital copy. I'll put them up on this site for all to enjoy.


Thanks guys ...